1 no

In O.Ir. used only with simple vb. in follg. cases: (a) regu-
larly in impf. ind., impf. subj. and cond., when they are not
preceded by any particle requiring the conjunct form of the
vb.; this construction continues through Mid.Ir.; in Mod.Ir.
do is used. (b) in 1 and 2 s. and pl. of pres. ind., pres. subj.
and fut. when they are used relatively. (c) with all tenses of
ind. and subj. to infix rel. n-. (d) with all parts of the vb.,
including the imp., to infix a pron.

Generally lenites the initial of the vb. in rel. sentences where
there is no infixed pron.

(a) no scarinn friu,
Wb. 24a4
. no scrutain-se in tan no
mbiinn isnaib fochaidib I used to consider when I was in tribula-
tions,
Ml. 91c1
(with rel. -n- before second vb.). ba ac imradud
chloine no bíth he used to be meditating iniquity,
55c19
. cia nu
tiastais,
117d3
. no chinged,
LU 8912
(cf. no cinged,
9136
). no
theiged,
9139
. no adratis they used to worship,
PH 2512.
With
pass.:
no leicthe . . . no oircthe,
Tur. 110c
(pass. impf. s.). no
comallaibthe,
Ml. 105b14
(cond. s.). nó edpairtha in t-uan
used to be sacrificed,
PH 5071.
riasíu no baistide,
6110
. No
is somet. omitted before the impf. ind. in archaic poetry: for
exx. see
Ériu xi 88.

1 nó

conj.or; acc. to
Ped. i 441
a petrified imperative from
the vb. no- (found in 3s.pr. atnoí); Thurneysen,
Hdb. § 873
,
conjectures that it may have been orig. negative.

In O.Ir. also written no and nu (
Camb. Hom. 37d
=
Thes.
ii 245.36
), and in Mid.Ir. somet. na, ná (through confusion
with ná nor). In O. and Mid.Ir. lenites initial of a follg. noun
(possibly in O.Ir. of a vb. also: no chonutangar, gl. aut comi-
tur,
Ml. 14c5
); not so in Mod.Ir.

The word is connected with noí nine by Meyer (
ZCP x 351
),
Thurneysen, who suggests that it is a gp. formed on the
analogy of bó, cnó (
ZCP xiv 1
-
4
), and Pokorny who takes it
to stand for the ordinal (
ZCP xiii 41
); by Stokes,
O'Dav. 547
,
taken as = n-ó (n-aue) gp. of aue grandson, see also
ZCP xiv
320
where the same view is put forward by Ó Briain.

Prob. outside legal use the phrase was equivalent to for
ever; cf. the Eng. custom of granting a lease for 999 years.